Judy Woodruff is leaving Cable News Network, she told colleagues Thursday, although she will remain a consultant and sometime contributor.
"I've decided to leave daily journalism after 30 years, 12 of them at CNN," Woodruff said in a statement. "I've had challenging and exciting opportunities, been supported by an amazing and talented group of people, and made lifelong friends. I wish them the very best. I'm discussing several long-form projects in television. I'll also teach, do some writing and be an occasional consultant and contributor to CNN. "
Woodruff, 58 joined CNN in 1993 and anchored such breaking stories as Feb. 2003’s Space Shuttle Columbia crash, and the Sept. 11 attacks. CNN has not yet said if it will continue to produce Inside Politics, which airs weekdays from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. The show averaged 512,000 total viewers in April. In January, the network yanked long-running political debate show Crossfire, after CNN/U.S. president Jonathan Klein expressed desire to reinvigorate the network’s political and public affairs coverage. Klein, who took the reins in November, has said he wants to focus on CNN’s primetime coverage of hard news, shifting features and entertainment programming to a new block on sister network Headline News in Feb.
Woodruff was NBC News’ chief White House correspondent from 1977 to 1982, and reported on Washington D.C. for Today. She later served at PBS as chief Washington correspondent for the MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour, and anchor of weekly documentary Frontline with Judy Woodruff between 1984 and 1990.
In an internal memo, Woodruff added: "To all of you at CNN who have been so wonderful to me, I can't begin to thank you adequately. But thank you. We will stay in touch and we'll always have memories of good journalism, good times and a few laughs together."
